After bringing Premiership title success to Leicester Tigers, head coach Steve Borthwick and defence coach Kevin Sinfield have been tasked with getting England back on course.
Losing their way somewhat after two disappointing Six Nations campaigns and an underwhelming Autumn Series, Borthwick and Sinfield have not been given long to get the Red Rose blooming again in a World Cup year.
Time not on duo's side
With Eddie Jones leaving the RFU back in December, it was pretty evident that Borthwick was being lined up as the new England head coach.
Having captained his country, worked as an assistant coach with England and then having domestic success with the Tigers, Borthwick was the standout candidate to take the reins from Jones.
It was a big call from the hierarchy at Twickenham to make a coaching change so close to the 2023 World Cup and parting company with a coach who has had a very strong record in the competition over the years.
December saw Borthwick confirmed as the England boss and the new man in charge seemed to have little doubt that he would take Leicester's defence coach and rugby league icon Sinfield along for the ride on this new journey.
The pair worked wonders at Welford Road and earned rave reviews among the squad there.
Turning a Leicester side from a team struggling at the wrong end of the table to one that beat Saracens in the Grand Final last season was somewhat of a fairytale story.
With England 4/1 To Win Outright the Six Nations this year, Borthwick and Sinfield have now been tasked with creating a similar shift with England in a short period of time.
Borthwick needs to give England its swagger back
Having won the Six Nations title back in 2020, England struggled under Jones in the following two tournaments.
Four wins over those two campaigns was far off the standards England supporters are accustomed to and it looked at times that the confidence was sucked out of the players.
From a team that reached the World Cup final in 2019, to winning the Six Nations the following year, few would have predicted Jones not to be the man at the helm for this next World Cup on French soil.
What Borthwick and Sinfield will look to do, is to raise the confidence levels and try to bring the spring in the step back to the players in the England camp.
Looking at the squad there is no doubting the quality available to the national side, but it will be a case of boosting confidence and making Twickenham a fortress once again.
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A massive game up first
An opening day showdown against oldest rivals Scotland is a game that could well make or break England's Six Nations.
It was 2017 the last time the English beat the Scots at Twickenham, with Gregor Townsend's side holding the Calcutta Cup for four of the last five years.
With a packed out stadium and the excitement surrounding the new managerial team with England, the home side will have plenty of backing from the off.
The big question will be if a settled Scotland side under Townsend do keep themselves in the game and cause England problems.
If the Scots manage to stun the hosts with back-to-back victories in London then the pressure will immediately mount on Borthwick and Sinfield.
A win on the other hand and England would be brimming with confidence ahead of hosting Italy at Twickenham on 12th February, before a trip to Cardiff at the end of the month.
It's certainly possible England could be sitting top of the table with three wins from three from those games, before the major tests in March against France at Twickenham and Ireland in Dublin.
The French and the Irish look to be the teams to beat ahead of this year's Six Nations and both matches will provide Borthwick and Sinfield with plenty of information on how England rate themselves ahead of the World Cup in September.
A strong start is key for everyone involved in the England set-up and the Red Rose are the firm favourites at 1/4 to claim the win over Scotland in Game Betting 3-Way.
The Scots are available at 10/3 to win at Twickenham, with another draw after a stalemate in London in 2019, at 28/1.
